Hideous Headmen's Heinous Headquarters

Previously we had discussed the first headquarters of the Injustice Gang, as well as the later base of operations for the Injustice Society's Brainwave and his henchmen aboard a pair of orbiting satellites. However the more famous sinister citadels for these megalomical menaces were locales also frequented by their arch-enemies, the Justice League and Justice Society!

Throughout the formative initial years of the Justice League, they utilized a cave just outside the seaside town of Happy Harbor, which they refashioned into a stylized headquarters. Contained therein was a centralized meeting room, as well as a trophy room, gymnasium, library, kitchen, and hanger for the team's various aircraft. This fortress of solitude was used up until honorary League member Snapper Carr betrayed his teammates, revealing the cave's location to Batman's arch-enemy the Joker. The League abandoned the site, building their own satellite headquarters in its place, more inaccessible to their adversaries.

Following his first foray versus the Justice Society, Brain Wave transitioned his base of operations from a highend skyscraper condo into a lighthouse off the coast of Sharktooth Bay. This locale included a meeting room, laboratory and a dungeon. From this tower, Brain Wave launched to attacks against his arch-foes, first by capturing the Society members and later by shrinking the team.

Abra Kadabra, an adversary of the Flash from the 64th century, recruited the Injustice Gang into forming its third incarnation. He schemed that the League's now abandoned Happy Harbor cave would be the ideal location for the Gang. However, the Justice League along with Earth-Prime's sole superhero Ultraa tracked the supervillains to the old HQ and defeated them.

Similarly, while not an intentional headquarters for the Society, the Sharktooth Bay tower was more like their recurring prison. Their girlfriends, dressed up like the heroes themselves, helped free the Society members who then vanquished Brain Wave. Later, a return engagement with the Brain Wave led to his tower being permanently destroyed when Society ally Thunderbolt moved the criminal's bomb from where the heroes were to underneath the tower itself!

Twice-Told-Tales Untold of Sinister Societies

During the relatively brief yet memorial history of the original Secret Society of Super-Villians, there came a point where this group fragmented into at least three parts. One section, led by Gorilla Grodd, pursued a vendetta against his arch-foe the Flash and other members of the Justice League of America. Another faction accompanied the Wizard back to his home world of Earth-Two to battle the Justice Society of America. 

Meanwhile, back on Earth-One, Mirror Master and Copperhead recruited four previously unaffiliated members to assist them and their employer Silver Ghost. Their goal, to eliminate the Freedom Fighters, whom the Ghost has quarreled with for several months since their arrival from Earth-X. Originally from Earth-Two, the seven Fighters fought the Axis Powers on their adopted world for decades, before deciding to journey to a third Earth to start their careers anew.

Regrettably, their reputations were marred by Silver Ghost, who secretly was Raphael Van Zandt, a Nazi corroborator on Earth-X. When Van Zandt decided to create a criminal empire on Earth-One, he was pursued by his enemy Firebrand to this new planet. There, he would soon after encounter his old adversaries in the Freedom Fighters whom he also believed were following him. Wishing to rid himself of these pest, he sought the aid of the Secret Society.

While not much is known of how this battle between the two teams developed, we do know the outcome as Silver Ghost ended up transforming both himself and Firebrand into silver statues when exposed to his transmutation abilities (this process was reversed during the Crisis on Infinite Earths). Meanwhile, the remaining Freedom Fighters returned to Earth-X, while some of the members of the Secret Society such as Mirror Master and Chronos returned with their original group, the Injustice Gang a couple months later.

A similar untold tale of the Injustice Society on Earth-Two took place in the late 1940s, when future marriage mates Brain Wave and Merry the Gimmick Girl first met as opponents. During this case, the counterpart to Secret Society arch-foe Captain Comet battled the Injustice Society alongside Merry and other former allies of the All-Star Squadron. This man, Captain Triumph, had also traveled to Earth-X to assist the Freedom Fighters briefly before coming home, where he joined the Squadron. Among those present on this occasion was Doll Man, who had returned from the future to reunite with his fiancée Martha Roberts after several years with the Fighters.

This assemblage of evil was apparently led by the Wizard, and shortly after this while dueling with Superman, he conceived of reinventing this gang into a Secret Society. With this in mind, the Wizard was drawn to an actual realization of his concept while exiled on Earth-One in the late 1970s. Although most of the villains portrayed in this battle of 1949, such as Shade and Icicle, were the originals… the Solomon Grundy here present was evidently the imposter whom Johnny Thunder met a couple years earlier, when the Justice Society tracked down the real version who was terrorizing across the United States. At this point. Grundy was exiled on the moon (first by Green Lantern, later by Per Degaton) until the mid 1960s.

Brain Boys & Bad Babes: Betrothed or Bothered

The first meeting of Henry “Brain Wave” King and his future wife Merry Pemberton was not overly… or remotely… romantic. In an apparent reunion of the Injustice Society along with later members Solomon Grundy** and the Shade, Brain Wave was outsmarted by Merry’s Gimmick Girl gadgets. She was joined by various heroes once members of the All-Star Squadron*.

Nevertheless, the two eventually bridged the gap between his criminal way of life and her adherence to a moral code. Their marital reunion resulted in a son … Henry Junior… who barely knew his father as King was kept in prison for several years

It seems that when Brain Wave escaped prison in 1976, his estranged wife Merry had passed away. The fact that she was important to him is evident in his actions in 1981 as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villians, when he kidnapped a red haired actress that reminded him of her. 

When Psimon attempted to rejoin the Fearsome Five, which had just been formed and had then been betrayed by him, his teammates initially rejected his plea for help. In fact, Shimmer threatened to transmute his body. Still, cooler heads prevailed, as the Five rescued him from dimensional exile, resulting in his later betrayal of their team leader and founder Doctor Light.

Nevertheless, something about Psimon’s drive and determination led Shimmer and her comrades to support him through his various schemes versus the New Teen Titans, and later, Batman and the Outsiders. Although, unlike their Earth-Two counterparts Brain Wave and Gimmick Girl, the Earth-One Psimon and Shimmer remained plutonic partners instead.

* During this untold tale, which had to have taken place in or shortly after June 1948 when Merry debuted, Doll Man was shown among the various heroes. This confirms that he traveled back on time to the 1940s, having left the world of his birth for Earth-X, where he was until the 1970s. So he too reunited with his long lost love, the Martha Roberts of Earth-Two around this time.

**This is evidently the imposter Grundy who troubled Johnny Thunder previously, rather than the real Solomon who was stranded on the moon at this point.

Masked Manhunters Meet Mighty Mites' Miniature Metropolises

The Dynamic Duo had numerous adventures with the Metropolis Marvel, Superman, and his pal Jimmy Olsen... in both of their cities and across Earth-One... even in space! However, the first time that Superman brought Batman and Robin to his homeworld's last city, Kandor... was a memorable occasion.

During a case together, a bullet ricochetted off the chest of Superman and into his best friend. After an emergency surgery extracting the bullet, Batman physically recovered from his ordeal yet psychologically was traumatized. Thinking he wasn't a worthy partner to Superman, the Dark Knight announced his retirement. In order to help Batman regain his senses and his courage, Superman hatched a scheme with his friend, the Kandorian administrator Than-Ar. 

While bringing Batman, Robin and Jimmy to his Fortress of Solitude on a false pretense, Superman asked for their assistance in tracking down a menace that had reappeared, the Metalloids. An ancient science that transformed men into invulnerable metal while its human host wears a force-radiating instrument, it now terrorized the Kryptonian city which had been shrunken by the alien android known as Brainiac.

After encountering an exceptionally violent Metalloid which threatened the now-powerless* Superman's life, Batman learned this was a ploy by his friend to help him regain his confidence since they were both normal within Kandor's controlled bottle environment.  Although a brief rift formed between the two heroes, they batched up their differences when they combined their efforts to bring the Metalloid Kandorians and their leader, Than-Ar's brother, Jhan-Ar, to justice. 

There was no surviving city of Kandor on Earth-Two, aside from the virtual version contained within the artificial conscience of Kara "Power Girl" Zor-L's Symbioship which brought her to her new home world. However, just as there were a generation of Kandorians born and raised all their lives in a shrunken state within the Bottled City of Kandor a universe away, so to there was a generation of humans likewise miniaturized within the small city known as Midget Town. 

While a chemical formula was used by Darrell Dane to transform into the 6 foot tall Doll Man, in the early 1940s the malevolent mastermind known as Brain Wave developed a purple ray which accomplished this feat. A variation of these treatments was later used on a village by another criminal scientist named Doctor Vargo. Doll Man became aware of these tiny folk, causing them to turn on their creator Thinking this town was destroyed, Dane never revisited it, as it developed into the more civilized Midget Town within a few short years.

When full-sized criminals led by Moose Miller raid the defenseless town, one of its inhabitants named Johnny Wister sought to bring those crooks to justice. This led him into a meeting with Batman and Robin, who along with Johnny and other residents of Midget Town (including Mayor Hawkins and his daughter Carol) accompany the Dynamic Duo back to Gotham City. Together, they track down the hoodlums and capture them.

The February 1977 Invasion of Earth-One by the Injustice Society

February 1977 was a cold winter, and not just in the northern hemisphere of Earth-One. At the same time, an epic battle of the bands was occuring in a New York Colosseum, and an equally epic battle between Darkseid with the team of villains he sponsored!

These events stem from what had previously transpired on Earth-Two, a few months earlier (despite publishing dates of these tales on Earth-Prime). There, the Injustice Society reunited in order to finally defeat their old foes. Instead, their enemies in the Justice Society of America handed them a decisive defeat. Fiddler was captured in Tokyo Japan, followed by his allies Icicle and Thinker in Abu Dhabi, then Wizard and Brain Wave in Alaska. These villains allied with a race of subterranean being led by Underlord, seeking control of Earth's oil resources.

Yet despite being subdued, four of the members escaped prison to collaborate on  a new scheme involving the parallel planet most of them first visited back in the 1960's. That world, Earth-One had supervillains they could recruit to assist them against the superheroes of Earth-Two. They previously had success doing this as members of the Crime Champions.

The Shade unleashed shadow creatures from his Dark Dimension upon the Central City of Earth-One (including fellow fiend the Dark, in pursuit of the Ray), foiled by the Flash of Two Worlds. Vandal Savage attempted to revive his immortality and his physical form after having been thrust into Earth-One briefly, where he hatched a scheme to lure that world's Flash and Green Lantern into using their energies to restore his form for a return to Earth-Two.

From 1965 through 1967, Hal “Green Lantern” Jordan of Earth-One and Alan “Green Lantern” of Earth-Two each encounter villains from their counterparts world, invading their own. This began with Krona coming to Earth-Two to siphon Scott’s emerald energy to free him from his celestrial prison. Then Prince Peril pursued Princess Ramia and her future husband Doiby Dickles to Earth-One where he faced Hal in battle. 

In 1966, three felons in Crazy Quilt, Captain Challenge and Gentleman Ghost were pulled over to Earth-One from Earth-Two during the invasion of the Anti-Matter Man on both worlds… while Blockbuster of Earth-One and Solomon Grundy of their world temporarily traded places.

A year later in 1967, three criminals recruited by Sinestro ventured from Earth-One to Earth-Two, where they were transformed into his clones. Two other cunning crooks from Earth-One who attacked Earth-Two’s Atlantis were the Penguin and Blockbuster… the second of three times the latter visited that planet. Around the time, Grundy visited Earth-One’s Metropolis, while months earlier Shade invaded Earth-One’s Central City. 

Of course, there were earlier examples of crisscrossing criminals between the two Earths. Other Injustice Society members had sought a reversal of fortune on a new world, unhindered by their former foes, yet still found further frustrations. This included the Thinker, who with his new improved helmet and costume briefly plundered Ivy Town on Earth-One, before that world's Atom along with his counterpart cornered him on Earth-Two’s Calvin City. Then there was the occasion when King Kull recruited Penguin and Blockbuster of Earth-One to invade Earth-Two’s Atlantis, while Earth-Two’s Solomon Grundy sought out his counterpart in  Earth-One’s Metropolis!

The first of the Injustice Society's 1970's incarnation to travel to Earth-One was the Wizard (although technically, Thinker preceded them during his encounter with the Atoms). There, he joined the newly formed Secret Society of Super-Villains. However, he needed time to obtain both weapons and supervillains from their midst to aid him back in his native universe.

While this was transpiring, Icicle and Fiddler also journeyed to Earth-One. There, Icicle teamed up with his counterpart Captain Cold and that world's version of Minister Blizzard while working for the Shadow-Thief, trying to start a new Ice Age starting in Equador. The Justice League of America defeated this frightful four, and saved the planet.

Simultaneously, the Fiddler began a crime spree involving a series of concerts, which drew the attention of the Teen Titans. This seemed to include kidnapping Peter McCarthy (an Earth-One Beatle?). The Teen Titans overcame the Fiddler. Around this time, Psycho Pirate hid out on Earth-One until the Justice Society tracked him down, returning him to Earth-Two!

Months later, the Wizard* finally amassed enough power and pawns to travel back to Earth-Two, and battle individual members of the Justice Society. However, despite a few victories, his Secret Society of Super-Villians (consisting of the Wizard, Star Sapphire, Floronic Man, Professor Zoom, and Blockbuster) were chased off world back to Earth-One.

As for the Brain Wave, he departed for Earth-One several months after his former teammates. Building a secret base outside Metropolis, Brain Wave brought Killer Frost, Floronic Man, Signalman and Cheetah back with him through a portal to Earth-Two, where they met the latest Secret Society of Super-Villians. Their teammate Psycho-Pirate had earlier retreated to his temporary Earth-One headquarters followed by the Justice Society.

Contemporaneous with these events, independent villains traversed the dimension divide, where these entire encounter individual heroes. These characters included the Earth-One rogues such as Angle Man, Bat-Mite and Mister Mxyzptlk, and Jroyy and the Earth-Two rogues such as Red Panzer, Captain Hawkins and Muchacho, and Atoman. These malcontents menaced the Wonder Woman, Supermen, Batmen and Flashes.

Prior to this, individual megalomaniacs each had separate yet consecutive incursions into the others universe, with Spirit King invading Earth-One while Darkseid invaded Earth-Two. While Darkseid pulled Shade, Fiddler and Icicle to his reality temporarily… these three remained on Earth-One for later capers (invading the Crime Champions, except for the Shade whose place was taken by the Wizard)… which mirrored when the Earth-One Crime Champions had a second engagement on Earth-Two years earlier. 

This last scheme of the Ultra-Humanite’s was the closest that the Injustice Society members came to triumph, however despite beating and capturing members of the Justice Society and Justice League, it was the Earth-One Super-Villians who attacked the Earth-Two Secret Society for their betrayal. And so, because these evildoers had no loyalty between themselves, they never had a lasting victory.

* The Wizard's reappearance back on Earth-One for a further Secret Society caper was offset by his counterpart Abra Kadabra's accidental journey to Earth-Two, where he battled both Flashes.

Koncurrent Krypton Kara Khronicles: Menacing Mental Mutants

Following their assistance combatting a pair of supervillains who unleashed plagues upon their parallel planets, the Girls of Steel were next tasked aboard satellites with tracking down menacing mental mutants. Each Kara was a bit headstrong, although both were courageous and led their Worlds' Greatest Heroes into outerspace to combat these old adversaries.

Despero originated from Kalanor-One before arriving on Earth-One, while Brain Wave was a natural born resident of Earth-Two. Each possessed vast powers over the mind, and were among the fiercest and most recurring of foes of the League and Society.

Both Superman and Despero were brought to the planet of Sirkus in order to amuse themselves with a battle between the two foes, along with synthetic replicas of Superman's Justice League allies. After defeating these, the real Justice League along with Supergirl will pulled to that world where they battled and defeated Despero. In this contest, despite his strong alien physique, Despero proved no match versus Kara Zor-El, the Supergirl!

Simultaneous to these events occuring, more or less, Power Girl alongside both the Justice Society and her newly formed team known as the Super Squad boarded the JSA Sky Rocket and intercepted Brain Wave's satellite headquarters. Initially, the heroes were overpowered by the barrage of Brain Wave's tremendous mental attacks as well as his ally Per Degaton's weaponry. In the end, the villains were weakened when Kara Zor-L, aka Power Girl, used her might to push Brain Wave's vessel close to the sun and outside of Earth orbit. This reversed the process of the two criminals' artificially created bodies, and restored Earth to its previously normal condition.

Just as they had done with Sonar and Queen Bee, Degaton and Brain Wave, just as had been done with a couple of mental mutants, so too each Kara would prove equal to the members of these twin teams. Soon after this, Power Girl was invited in place of her cousin Kal-L, Superman, to join the Justice Society. As for Supergirl, since her cousin Kal-El was younger and active with the Justice League, she remained a solo adventurers. Both gals would join as honorary members of the Legion of Super-Heroes and Infinity, Inc. However, the majority of Supergirl's tales were left as a member of Superman's Family, and those of Power Girl as a member of the JSA.

Sinster Super-Weapons of Savage Supervillains

Kru-El of Krypton-One and Vandal Savage of Earth-Two mirrored one another in both their tenacity for survival, and their sinister scheming minds. Each were threats to their worlds' Kal and Kara... the Supermen Kal-El and Kal-L, as well as Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl and Kara Zor-L aka Power Girl, not just because they had superhuman abilities comparable to Kryptonian cousins, but their lack of morals meant they were unrestrained in cruelty and cunning.

Kru-El, himself a cousin of Kal and Kara, was imprisoned in the Phantom Zone when it was learned that he was developing forbidden destructive weapons to further his evil ends. These devices were placed in a box that was jettisoned to Earth-One. Upon being released from the Zone along with fellow criminals General Zod and Jax-Ur, the trio betrayed the Kandorian woman Lesla-Lar who freed them, and proceeded to use these against Supergirl. Among the weapons were a force-field beam, a disintegrator, a plant scourge ray, a mind-over-matter machine, and a time-reversal ray. Even equipped with these, the tyrannical trio was defeated by Superman, Supergirl... and Lex Luthor, aiding his foes in order to save his sister Lena from imprisonment in the city of Kandor.

Vandal Savage, while himself brilliant in strategy and in some sciences, relied on the equipment of his former teammates in the Injustice Society. Seeking revenge against the Justice Society, who had defeated he and his allies, Vandal utilized a wide-array of his cronies' creations, including:

Brain Wave's immobility cube

Thinker's heavy-ray beam

Per Degaton's paralysis beam

Their monitoring devices

Savage had himself developed a specialized suit, allowing him to fly. And years later, when facing the Justice Society on his robotic world of Colu-Two, Vandal developed equipment that transferred Power Girl's superhuman abilities to himself, in order to battle Superman with the goal of robbing the Man of Steel of his own abilities. These and previous schemes were hatched with the goal of restoring Vandal's immortality, which was slowly wearing off during the 20th century.

On an earlier occasion, Savage used these devices to manipulate the Flash of both Earths into drawing the meteor that granted him immortality centuries ago back to him. However, the result was transforming Vandal into a phantom on his native Earth-Two for a time.

Kru-El and Vandal Savage would return time and again to threaten humanity while seeking power and control. During the course of their crooked careers, as has been noted, they would rely upon their alliance with the Phantom Zone criminals and Injustice Society colleagues. 

In fact, it was two of the Injustice gangsters, who sent Vandal to Earth-One with the goal of changing that worlds history, which had it been successful (which it had, until that world’s Superman changed it back to normal) would've insured the Justice Society had another world to exploit. In addition, a revised history eliminating their other foes the Justice League of Earth-One would've have secured their supremacy over Earth-Two in the 1970s when they with writer turned supervillain Cary Bates had decisively defeated the Justice Society.

Last Daughters of Krypton and Brainy Boys

Well established is the romance between Supergirl and Brainiac Five, the surrogate descendant of her and Superman's adversary, the android Brainiac. On occasion, she and the original actually battled, such as on the occasion when her cousin Superman finally enlarged the last surviving city, Kandor. While doing this, Supergirl used Brainiac's shrinking ray against him, seemingly eliminating him. 

Power Girl, like her doppleganger, had dealings with the fifth Brainiac's own cosmic twin, which didn't go so well. And later on, she would also have an encounter with Ultra-Humanite... his world's version of Brainiac...when she joined Infinity, Inc.

However, a persistent mystery involved what Power Girl's connection with another "brain baddie" was... namely Brain Wave. This villain, born Henry King, had been a psychologist with the mutant mental ability to project realistic images. From this, he built devices that pulled his victims into virtual dreamworlds, as he had with the Justice Society both when he first battled them, and then later with his "Dreams of Madness" as Dr. Forest Malone. 

This occured during the early to mid 1940s, during the time period when Power Girl as Kara Zor-L was travelling through interstellar space from her doomed homeworld to the same destination her cousin Kal-L had already reached of Earth-Two. And during the same time period that a young Henry King discovered his dreaming abilities, a scientist on Krypton-Two named Zor-L had himself invented dreaming technology for his daughter's Symbioship.

It would seem that during the decades of floating through the void, in a virtual Kandor modeled after the city she and her parents had resided in before the planet's destruction, her mind at some point connected with that of Henry. While he was unaware of this, she was aware of his existence, so much so that decades later when appearing for the first time as Power Girl on her adopted world, she was already aware of Brain Wave's plans.

Perhaps Henry was a virtual resident of Kara's Dreamworld Kandor, without even being aware of it. This city was so real, that an Earth-One Kal-El... Superman... could relate to Power Girl the experience of living amongst fellow Kandorians, knowing she had done so as well.

Twice-Told-Tales: Diabolical Duplicates Detour Defenders

Arch-enemies of the Justice League and Justice Society, Doctor Destiny and Brain Wave employed various schemes in an attempt to eliminate their foes. On one such occasion, during their second outing against these teams of Justice, the two devious doctors created demented duplicates of the heroes that would do their bidding. These twice-told-tales followed several similar events: 1.) doctors deploying dream dupes, 2.) these rogue replicas were evil versions of the originals, 3.) good and evil versions of each team battled one another, 4.) the girlfriends of the Atoms were involved in these tales.

Doctor Destiny created the Materiopticon, with the ability to materialize the dreams of others. Through this, he spawned a Super-Atom, Super-Aquaman, Super-Batman, Super-Flash, Super-Green Arrow, Super-Green Lantern, Super-J'onn J'onzz, Super-Superman and a Super-Wonder Woman. Each of these superior versions committed crimes, and were able to overpower the originals. Unable to proof in a court of justice that they weren't the culprits, despite being defended by Atom's girlfriend lawyer Jean Loring, the Justice League were exiled into space. However, the Leaguers returned to Earth-One under their civlian alter egos, except for Aquaman. Although still unable to overcome the duplicates, the Atom is able to enter their bodies causing them to lose control of their bodily movements. Once they prove their innocence, the Justice League reappear in costume, and Doctor Destiny was jailed.

Brain Wave developed through his his own mutant mental abilities projected images to assist his minions in crimes, each thwarted by the Justice Society. While the male members were thus busy, Wonder Woman led the girlfriends of the team including Atom's girlfriend Mary James to Brain Wave's lair, where the ladies wore costumes modeled after their boyfriends. Arriving at the villain's lair, they were overcome by image clones of the Justice Society: faux-Atom, faux-Doctor Fate, faux-Doctor Mid-Nite, faux-Hawkman, faux-Johnny Thunder, faux-Sandman, faux-Spectre, faux-Starman. Soon after, the originals arrived, overpowered Brain Wave and freed the women.

Sensational Siblings Stymie Stellar Stars

Baran and Selinda Flinders were a pair of siblings on Earth-One, each born a mutant with superhuman abilities manifested during their adolscence. Born and living their early lives in Australia, these powers become well known amongst their community, causing alienation with other children and ostracization with adults. When torments, they each used their powers to strike back at youths who torment them.

The brother, Baran, possessed immeasurable super strength in additional to virtual invulnerability, due to his particularly dense body mass. As a side effect of this condition, he appears to be mentally shunted and needs his sister to emotionally ground him. As for the sister, Selinda, she possesses the ability to transmute elements in her immediate vicinity from one substance into another. However, she is limited as the effects of her power are temporary, and have also manifested in her emotionally volatile personality.

Due to fears from the community towards their children, and the vengeful attitude the siblings displayed toward their neighors as a result, the Flinders' parents brought the pair into the care of noted genetic scientist Dr. Helga Jace. Jace attempted to teach the youths moral principles to govern their use of there abilities. However, instead of applying these, Selinda and Baran decided to become supervillains.

As young adults, Baran adopted the alter ego of Mammoth, and Selinda the alias of Shimmer. Their escapades brought them to the attention of Doctor Light, who sought to assemble the Fearsome Five to battle Starfire and her fellow New Teen Titans. There they followed team leader and mind-master, Psimon.

On Earth-Two, another pair of siblings had been adopted into the wealthy Pemberton family, who sought to provide companionship for their only son Sylvester. The parents, John and Gloria, believed their son had emotional problems as a result and thus left himself prone to self-injury. In reality, Sylvester was secretly the Star-Spangled Kid who... along with family chaffeur and mechanic Pat Dugan as the Stripesy... were members of the Law's Legionnaires.

Breezy was the first to be adopted, having saved the life of Sylvester which endeared him to the elder Pembertons. Shortly thereafter, the lad discovered that his new step-brother was a masked superhero, and sought to join he and Pat on their adventures. As he was older, although diminutive compared to Sylvester, Breezy only lived with the Pembertons for a few years before moving out. Breezy would later have a son, Arthur, who after his death would become the villianous leader of Strike Force who battled Star-Spangled Kid and the Justice Society.

Merry was adopted a few years later, and after discovering Sylvester and Pat's secret alter egos, joined them as the superheroine known as Gimmick Girl. She would continue her crimefighting after the pair disappeared for decades during the last adventure of the Legionnaires. Still later, Merry met and fell in love with the mind-master Brain Wave, aka Henry King. Together they wed and sired a son who would become a superheroic Brain Wave Junior, who would battle the superstrong Brain Wave image, created by Henry Senior. This red haired faux-foe of Sylvester took the place of now deceased red haired Breezy, now that King was a brother-in-law of Merry's brother.

Twice-Told-Tales: Mental Masterminds Meet Mortality

In the waning hours of the so-called "Crisis on Infinite Earths", as the supervillains from five Earths assemble to take control of three of their worlds, those commanding this sinister squadron orchestrated plans from space. These malevolent masterminds, Brainiac and Lex Luthor from Earth-Two, had just eliminated the threat of Lex's Earth-Two counterpart Alexie, and were calculating the odds of victory in the face of heroic opposition. Little did they know that aboard Brainiac's vessel, one criminal remained behind who sought their doom, as Psimon struck first Brainiac and then Lex from the shadows. However, what Psimon failed to realize is that Brainiac transferred his cybernetic consicence from his destroyed body into a replica, and then struck back at his assailant. Thus ended the threat of Psimon.

A similar scenario played out several months prior to this, when Ultra-Humanite battled both Infinity, Inc. and their mentors in the Justice Society of America. When all were pulled from Earth-Two into interdimensional Limbo, where Ultra's former associate Brain Wave was still exiled, a battle was wages between both of them. While equally matched as to mental prowess, Brain Wave sought to protect his estranged son Henry Junior from his friend turned foe's attack, at which point Ultra struck Brain Wave with a devastating mind blast. And so, counterparts Ultra-Humanite and Brainiac proved strategically superior to doppelgänger Brain Wave and Psimon.

Twice-Told-Tales: Devious Dreamers VS Sandmen and Justice

This week's Twice-Told-Tale stems from two temporal tyrants who mentally muscle their way into their opponent's lives, attempting to seize limitless power despite already having plenty. We present twin tales of Doctor Destiny and Brain Wave...

On Earth-One, after responded to disconcerting dreams focused at its members and a request by Commissioner Gordon, the Justice League investigates the whereabouts of Doctor Destiny who fleed his cell in Arkham Asylum. On Earth-Two, the Justice Society responded to a mental suggestion and their allies the All-Star Squadron to a broadcasted threat to appear at the World's Fair in New York. The search led the League to Ivy Town's Dream Research Institute and the Society to New York's Perisphere exhibit at the Fair. Utilizing Destiny's Materioptikon and the Brain's cerebral apparatus, the cranium criminals believed they laid the groundwork necessary to ensnare their enemies.

Aiding the League and Society are honorary allies the Green Lanterns, John Stewart and Alan Scott, who are also summonded to aid their Amazing Amazon allies the kWonder Women and the rest of their team. In the process, the assembled avengers face various threats to their sanity launched from the unstable minds of Doctor Destiny and Brain Wave who mercilessly assault their adversaries with images while safely held up in reclusive headquarters, for the former in the Dream Dome within the dream dimension while the latter was in his penthouse suite in midtown Manhattan.

Although John isn't able to tip the balance in his new-found friends' favor, Alan is thanks to his superior will power. Although the rest of the League are in cases as were the Society, it was the defender of the Dream Dimension known as the Sandman who was in position to overturn Doctor Destiny's designs while the golden age Sandman was no more than another prisoner besides his fellow Socialites. Just as the Sandman of Earth-One recruited Superman to free his fellow Leaguers, Green Lantern of Earth-Two overwhelmed King's mental control which freed the Society.

This was the last encounter Doctor Destiny would have against the Justice League, and the first direct confrontation the Justice Society had with Brain Wave. A later tale had Brain Wave as Doctor Forest Malone use a similar dream inducing equipment on the Justice Society, which mirrored a caper when Doctor Destiny invaded the Justice League's dreams. And still another encounter had both Doctor Destiny and Brain Wave creating evil image duplicates of the Justice League and Justice Society.  

It should be noted, however, that Brain Wave's initial pawn Doctor Elba, also known as Professor Alba, was the Earth-Two version of Doctor Destiny... as Elba battled the Justice Society and later as the "Painter of Death" he carried on the legacy of a previous villain, as the skull-faced foe of Batman and Robin.

As for Brain Wave's Earth-One twin, that was the mental madmen Psimon who like King displayed mental abilities. Both had a propensity to join supervillain teams in the Injustice Society and Fearsome Five, and were threats signficant enough that entire teams had to combat them.

Seaside Sanctuaries of the Super and the Sinister

HQs for the mightiest heroes of two worlds took many forms. From structures carved from stone outside modest seaside towns  to stunning satellites above parallel planet Earths.

The Secret Sanctuary was the initial headquarters of the Justice League of America, within a mountain just outside Happy Harbor, USA, Earth-One. It was later abandoned when the Joker discovered its location, thanks to the betrayal of the team's mascot Snapper Carr in a moment of weakness. The headquarters was state of the art, with several rooms and chambers to satisfy the various needs and functions of the up-and-coming team, as was its doppleganger on a parallel world.

The Justice Society of America initially operated out of a rented hotel room in the New York City of Earth-Two, which they allowed the All-Star Squadron to borrow from time-to-time, before moving to their Civic City digs. Then, during their early years as a team the Justice Society members were twice held captive in the seaside sanctuary of the Brain Wave, a stone tower near Sharktooth Bay which correlated to Happy Harbor. Not only were the male members of the Society drawn to this locale but also their girlfriends and teammate Wonder Woman. Then it was demolished by its owner's own malevolent machinations, forever a testimony to the folly of felony!

Further correlations to these two bases can be found in the use of the Secret Sanctuary years after it was abandoned... by the Justice League's arch-foes the Injustice Gang! Their base would be used by their foes... while a future member of the Injustice Society, Brain Wave, would use Sharktooth Tower as his own base of operations on two occasions when he ensnared the Justice Society!

Fearsome Five or Forgotten Fivesome?

Perpetual pest of protagonists, Doctor Arthur Light, abandoned his solo pursuits at defeating the combined Justice League of America and individual members, to recruit a team of super-villains. Aiming his sights lower, defeating the New Teen Titans, he felt he had the right mixture to accomplish this and more. Recruiting the dwarf Gizmo (aka Mikron O'Jeneus), a genius developing multiple weapons; the brother and sister team of super-strong Mammoth and the matter-transmute maiden of Shimmer; (aka Baran and Selinda Flinders) and the mental mastermind Psimon (aka Dr. Simon Jones), the Fearsome Five were born. 

Decades earlier on Earth-Two, there was a family that would have influence ... both for good and for evil. It began with psychiatrist Henry King, who gained mutant mental powers at birth which he used as the supervillain known as Brain Wave. A perpetual opponent of the Justice Society of America, he would work by himself and alongside allies in the Injustice Society, yet despite this always met with bitter defeat. Around the same time, a girl named Merry was adopted into the wealth Pemberton family, to become a step-sister for young Sylvester (also known as the Star-Spangled Kid). His parents adopted her to replace the other Pemberton son, Sylvester's brother Breezy who moved away and years later died. Inspired by her new sibling's costumed career, Merry likewise devised an alter ego as Gimmick Girl, creating a variety of devices to fight crime. 

Interestingly, both Earths had their own Doctor Light. Doctor Light of Earth-Two was a perpetual pest of Justice Society member Doctor Mid-Nite. Each of these sinister scientists developed light-based weaponry which they employed in their schemes to become criminal masterminds. However, neither Arthur Light found much success when facing their opposite numbers in the Justice League and Justice Society of America, despite multiple attempts. While Arthur had at least a preliminary tie with the Fearsome Five, it is unknown if the other Light had ever met Henry King, even though they shared a mutual foe in Doctor Mid-Nite around the same timeframe.

Soon after forming, the Fearsome Five betrayed Light and recruited eastern powerhouse Jinx and former Superman foe Neutron to join their ranks. Despite their diverse abilities, the "Five" still met bitter defeat, this time by both the Titans and the Outsiders). Finally, Psimon was killed by Brainiac and the Doctor retired as did his teammates.

Sylvester disappeared in the late 1940s due to a cosmic battle,  shortly after he first met Merry. When he reappeared decades later, he learned that Merry married a briefly reformed  Henry King, and together they sired a son. When King became a criminal once more, he created a new stronger red haired body, which seemingly filled the void of the lost Pemberton as Sylvester's brother-in-law. Coupled with the shock of this discovery, Star-Spangled Kid learned that his late brother's son Arthur had used equipment developed by Syl's partner Pat "Stripesy" Dugan to outfit the criminal Strike Force.

Arthur Pemberton's Strike Force had several armed henchmen who mirrored the TNT Trio... a gang that had been employed by Earth-One's Lex Luthor of whom one of their number, Nat Tryon, became the powerful Nuetron who later joined the Fearsome Five. And the Five had five of their own armed henchmen on occasion, who like the Strike Force troops were similarly clad in generic spandex uniforms.

There was another team on Earth-Two known as the Five Fingers of the Hand that battled the Seven Soldiers of Victory, consisting of foes of each of the members. Consisting of Red Dragon, Professor Merlin, Needle, Big Caesar, Dummy and the Hand himself as their leader. Each would recur as enemies of the Soldiers, but only joined forces together once. This cadre of criminals has a corresponding crooked crew on Earth-One in the Fearsome Five during their first appearance, although the Fingers’ actual doppelgängers on that world were Red Dragon, Meryln the Assassin, Captain Boomerang. Maxie Zeus, Dummy and the Crumbler… none of whom ever working together.

Brainy Mutants Opposing Secret Societies

Adam Blake and Henry King Junior inherited immense brain power, far beyond those of their fellow man in the 20th century. While Adam's true counterpart on Earth-Two was Lance Gallant aka Captain Triumph, and Henry's counterpart on Earth-One was the Omega Man named Primus, there were several points of similarity between today's two featured heroes. Inspired to assist others by adopting costumed aliases, Adam's Captain Comet and Henry's Brain Wave Junior, had adventures that spanned decades. Each had the requisite power-set of telepathy and telekinesis that all mental masterminds possess, as well as other distinct abilities. Both favoring the red and blue color-scheme, each made reputations for himself by courageously combating the Secret Society of Super-Villains and a particular pair of super-smart simians that would cause them considerable angst. And each fell two ladies tied the Green Lantern mythos, as Adam caught the eye of flight attendant Deborah Darnell (aka Star Sapphire) who would soon become his most consistent foe, and Henry grew to love Green Lantern Alan Scott's daughter Jennie Hayden (aka Jade). Both romances were doomed to failure, due to Sapphire's evil disposition and Junior's confusion after being mental "transfused" with the brain of his father upon the latter's death. 

Henry King Junior himself used the mental powers inherited from his wicked father Henry King Senior, aka the original Brain Wave. Capable of projecting mental blasts, levitating himself and other objects, and creating realistic illusions. Early in his career, Junior attempted to enlist the membership of the Justice Society of America, with near catastrophic results. Of course, showing up at their headquarters appearing like his father (to earn their respect? attention?) rather than as himself caused an immediate conflict. Regardless, after traveling time Brain Wave Junior recruited other heroes from the 1940's All-Star Squadron, although once more lacking the polish of diplomacy of his fellow heroes.

Adam Blake possessed other abilities beyond those listed above, including a superhuman physique and a photographic memory. After a modest run of forty or so adventures in the 1950's, Captain Comet decided to travel through space for a few decades until returning to Earth and encountering modern day super villains. Mistaking them for friends initially, upon learning of their insidious nature, began attacking this Secret Society instead of heroes like Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Among these was the aforementioned sinister  simians, Earth-One's Gorilla Grodd whom Comet had a couple of mental duels with. This paralleled Junior's own war of the wills versus the modern-day Ultra-Humanite, himself an ape at the apex of atypical genius.

After following the Secret Society throughout the multiverse, Comet was instrumental behind the scenes in aiding the same Justice Society that would later spurn Junior in defeating this first incarnation of the team (of which Junior's father was a member of its second incarnation a few years later). After dispatching this team, and reconciling his own troubled powers thanks to the assistance of Superman, Comet went into semi-retirement until called upon during a Crisis to assist the multiverse once more.

Both Captain Comet and Brainwave Junior were outcasts of the worlds they were born into. Each was bequeathed abilities that set them apart from most of their contemporaries, and this also caused them to have difficulty at times reconciling between good and evil despite their own inherent attributes towards justice and fairplay. While seeking out those on the same side of the law, Junior was a brief member of Infinity Inc and Comet an ally of the Justice League, each ended up withdrawing and becoming very much the loners they were. Legends in their own mind.

Menancing Mental Masterminds: Psimon and Brain Wave

Simon Jones was a physicist fascinated with the concept of accessing other dimensional planes of existence. His experiments opened a portal wherein a bolt of energy irradiated and mutated him, transforming him into a psionic being. These new abilities corrupted Simon, motivating him into becoming Psimon, although he was actually the pawn of an extra-dimensional being. Shortly after this, Psimon was recruited by the supervillain Doctor Light into joining his Fearsome Five, alongside inventor Gizmo, matter-transmutter Shimmer, amd her superstrong brother Mammoth. Together, they fought the New Teen Titans repeatedly, each time leading to their defeat.

Henry King was a psychologist fascinated with crime, spurred on by his mutant mental abilities. King eventually adopted the alias of Brain Wave and repeately battled the Justice Society of America. Whether with henchmen or alongside the Injustice Society, each time he met with defeat. Eventually, King married retired superheroine Merry Pemberton, and together they had a son in Henry Junior. Through Merry, Henry also had an equally evil nephew in Athur Pemberton who founded the Strike Force, and a heroic brother-in-law in Sylvester "Star-Spangled Kid" Pemberton.

Eventually, after his latest scheme as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains had failed, King sided with his son against fellow villain Ultra-Humanite. However, in the mental war between the two, Ultra projected a mental blast which extinguish Brain Wave's life. Shortly after this, Psimon as one of the recuited supervillains aboard Brainiac's spaceship attempted to destroy the android and his ally Lex Luthor, however it was Brainiac who struck last... slaying Psimon with another bolt of energy.